Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes are the perfect dessert to pair with Door County Chocolate Covered Strawberry coffee. The chocolate shortcakes are tender and delicious. They’re topped with macerated strawberries and sweet whipped cream. Summer on a plate!

Don’t you love strawberry season? Those sweet red berries just scream summer. At least they do in my head. Barbecues, sitting on the deck having burgers or barbecue chicken, dipping in powdered sugar for Derby; these are the images that come into my head when I think of strawberries.

Strawberry shortcake is our go to easy dessert for summer. It can’t get any simpler than strawberries, sugar, and shortcakes. At our store, they have pre-packaged sponge cake shells to make it even easier. However, making a batch of shortcakes is fairly easy. If you can make biscuits, then you can make shortcakes. If you’ve made scones, then you can make shortcakes. Yes, it’s that easy.

When I opened the jam-packed package of coffee, mug, and Contigo from Door County Coffee I was instantly inspired! There were so many flavors to choose from in the box:

I had an epiphany while making this recipe.

Let me explain. The recipe makes 8 shortcakes. But, there’s only two of us in the house. So that leaves 6 servings that are going to sit in an air tight container just losing moisture by the day. Admit it, no matter how air tight the container baked goods always lose moisture over time. And, well, my husband is picky with his baked goods. That’s why I don’t have many cakes or cupcakes on the blog. He’ll one, maybe two slices, and then he won’t touch it again. He says it’s too dry to eat. WHATEVER!

So, the epiphany I had, and tested while making this recipe, is to form the rest of the shortcakes, but individually freeze them to bake later. Yes. I did. And it works perfectly! So, here’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to make a double batch of this recipe and individually freeze them. Then, whenever I want some scrumptious strawberry shortcake, I can pop them in the oven to bake and voila!

Confession. I didn’t follow this recipe exactly. I didn’t pat mine out into circles. Instead, I rolled mine out into circles and cut them with a biscuit cutter. This was easier than patting the dough out into roughly 8 equal portions; at least in my head it was.

I baked 2 and then put the remaining 6 on a parchment lined baking sheet to freeze them individually. Once frozen, I put them in a zip top freezer bag and removed as much of the air out as I could before sealing it. Now, the next time I double this recipe and freeze them, I’ll put them in a vacuum seal bag so they will last longer in the freezer. Well, as long as we can resist them.

No. They don’t take that much longer to cook because they’re frozen. I baked mine at 400 for 15 to 18 minutes. I wanted a little sticky on the toothpick because they will continue to cook when cooling. You know what I mean, right? The toothpick isn’t wet like dough, but has a few bits of baked good stuck to it when you pull it out. This was another epiphany I had while reading about baked goods.

Like cooking a steak, or any meat actually, you stop cooking a few degrees under your final internal temperature. The carry over cooking as the meat rests will bring the temperature up to where you want it. The same is true with baked goods. I’ve been taking my quick breads, cakes, and even scones out of the oven when the toothpick has a bit of crumbs stuck to it and not completely clean. When I cook the baked good, it continues to cook while cooling. Once it’s cooled, it’s perfectly cooked and moist inside.

My whole life I’ve been told to take things out when the toothpick is clean. Not anymore!

I don’t know about you, but growing up we fought over that sweet, syrup-y, strawberry goodness at the bottom of the bowl. Oh, by the way, for those that don’t know macerating is to soften or become soft by soaking in liquid. When you add the sugar to the strawberries, they form their own liquid and become soft.

It’s that liquid that, even to this day, I’m obsessed with! The shortbread soaks up that delicious syrup and becomes one with the strawberries and whipped cream. You cut through the top, chocolaty layer of shortcake. Then your fork hits the scrumptious strawberries. And finally you get to the the syrup soaked bottom shortbread. You can see I drizzled some of the syrup over everything. I had to. It was too delicious not to drizzle over the sweetened whipped cream.

I may have slurped a spoonful or two while drizzling. Don’t judge.

You will, too, when you taste how delicious these chocolate strawberry shortcakes are. The shortcakes are tender with a hint of chocolate flavor. It’s not too rich. The chocolate flavor is the perfect amount to let the strawberry flavor come through. The strawberries are simply delicious. Of course, that all depends in the strawberries you use.

Tips for selecting the best berries:

Find a local you pick strawberry patch. I have tips for picking strawberries here.

Buy in season! Florida strawberries are in season December through March. Then there’s a bit of a lull and local strawberries start coming into season late April to early May.

Pick packs with bright red berries.

Don’t get suckered into larger berries. Look for medium sized berries as they have the most flavor.

Smell the package. It should smell like strawberries. This is true for peaches, too.

Turn the package over. Check the bottom and make sure there’s no hidden bruised berries or bits of mold. Yes, I’ve had that last one happen to me.

DO NOT wash then the minute you get home. You want to wash them just before using. If you wash them too early, it causes them to ripen faster.

As if all this wasn’t enough, here’s the best part. Door County Coffee is having a giveaway! Yes!! A GIVEAWAY! You could win coffee for a year. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s two stoneware mugs (you can see the blue one above), two Contigo mugs, and a tote bag. But, honestly, the coffee alone is so worth entering. Make sure you head over there and check it out.

And while you’re heading places, head over the Chocolate Strawberry Shortbreads recipe on Taste of Home and save it. You’ll want it handy to make repeatedly this summer while berries are in season. It works perfectly with strawberries, raspberries, black berries, blueberries. What other kind of berries are there? Not sure about currents, mulberries, elderberries, lingonberries or cloudberries. I’ve never had them so I couldn’t comment. Maybe you can and let me know?

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake are the perfect dessert to pair with Door County Chocolate Covered Strawberry coffee. The chocolate shortcakes are tender and delicious. They're topped with macerated strawberries and sweet whipped cream. Summer on a plate!

Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat whipping cream and confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate.

To assemble, split shortcakes in half. Place cake bottoms on dessert plates. Top with about two-thirds of the strawberries, whipped cream and fudge topping. Replace shortcake tops; top with remaining berries, cream and topping. Garnish with chocolate if desired.

Notes

Make a double batch and individually freeze on a parchment lined baking sheet. Save the frozen shortcakes in a freezer safe container to pop in the oven every time you crave these chocolate strawberry shortcakes.

I'm Christie and I'm A Kitchen Hoor! At least that's what my friends call me. I've been in the kitchen since I was tall enough to see over the counter. I hope you stay a while and find some new recipes.